Better Then A Quill
by Ruffian194
Summary: Draco can't take his mother's tears for the past and goes out to Diagon Alley. One-shot.


Better Then A Quill

Mother was crying again. It was hard, terrible hard, for him to see her like this. To see Narcissa Malfoy break down and actually cry.

All his life, Draco Malfoy's mother had been his source of love and support, his strong protector from his father's brutality and irrational punishments. He knew she loved his father but he also knew she love him, her son, more. And that she would do anything to keep him safe, including make an unbreakable vow with Snape and even lie to Volemort himself about Harry Potter being dead.

But sometimes, especially recently, something presents itself to her that pulls all her hidden emotions to the surface. He always knows when it's going to happen too. He can see the struggle on her face and in her eyes as she tried not to start crying, but with his father in Azkaban, emotions are easier to show now. And she knows Draco loves her just as much as she loves him and would never make her feel small or weak for her tears.

But just the same, he can't stand watching her strong force, his iron rod break down. It hurt him too much, especially since there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

So today, the third anniversary of the Dark Lord's defeat, with a picture of the now happy and prosperous Golden Trio on the front page of the Daily Prophet, Narcissa can't keep her tears in check. At the dining table, as soon as she got a good glimpse of their smiling faces, Draco watched as her defenses slowly broke down as she read the story. And then suddenly she started tearing up and just pointed at the picture and kept reading.

"What is it, Mum," Draco asked quietly, concerned.

"Harry Potter just got married…" She said, a few tears of happiness and regret falling from her eyes.

"To the Weasley girl? Ginny?"

Narcissa nodded. Taking a deep breath and a sip of water, she continued, lifting the picture up to show Draco.

"And sadly, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley aren't together anymore," she said, pointing at Hermione. "They're apparently taking a 'break'."

"Well if I know Weasley," Draco started, "they're still friends or his temper wouldn't allow him to be that close to her and smile too."

"Well I'm glad they're all still such good friends. After all they've been through…"

And that was when the real tears started falling. All the memories of the war and the things all of them had had to go through and do just to survive. Especially those three people in that picture and their own Malfoy family.

"I wish my Lucius was here, Draco. My old Lucius, the one I'd had before the Dark Lord." She grabbed his hand from across the table. "And I wish those three had never had to go through all they did. That poor, poor Potter boy. The mental scars he must have… And that poor Hermione Granger! Tortured! By my own sister! How despicable. How humiliating, that wretched word carved into her arm. I wish I could apologize to her. I'm so sorry. I'm so very, very sorry, Draco."

And she let go of his hand to go cry in her garden gazebo. He watched her go and not bring able to continue watching and listening, he too left the room.

Walking toward the front door, he passed by the door to what was once the downstairs parlor, whose door was always shut now.

That was the room. He stopped infront of the door, staring at it, remembering, reliving, hearing her screams. This was the room his Aunt Bella tortured Hermione Granger for all the world to hear. He hadn't been able to stand by and watch, he'd left the room, but could hear her cries wherever he went in their vast home, no matter how hard he tried to block the sound out.

He needed to get out of this house, away from all the bad memories.

But being away from the Manor didn't stop him from thinking about that day. If no other day had shown him before, that day definitely did show him that his blood was no different from Granger's.

He hadn't seen the trio since the rebuilding of Hogwarts, except for in the Prophet. He wondered if they'd changed. He had somewhat. He was definitely still Draco Malfoy, Slytherine Prince, filthy rich, total playboy, super arrogant and confident, complete with trademark smirk. But with changes to how he looked at the world. But had Potter stayed same boy-who-refused-to-die ol' Potty? And was Weasley still weasel? And what about Granger? Was she still the bushy haired, stuck-up, know-it-all bookworm?

Draco was contemplating his thoughts, thinking how they might be different and how they must still be the same while he walked through Diagon Alley, ducking in and out of shops, browsing without really seeing.

Stopping for a moment, he looked over at Scribbulus Writing Instruments before walking in, thinking he might get his mum a new quill to cheer her up a little. She did need a new one now that she'd taken up writing to her eldest sister, Aunt Andromeda.

He nodded at the owner before submerging himself in the shelves and displays. A few minutes later the above the door jingled again and low voices could be heard in greeting but Draco paid no attention as it became quiet once more. Aside from the sound of the shop owners writing and Draco and the other customer's movements, the shop was silent, which he was enjoying.

Turning a corner, Draco witnessed a small brunette accidentally drop a quill. She bent down to pick it back up and he couldn't help himself from thinking '_Well I found the quills and to my surprise, a pretty little…_' and that's when he saw it. MUDBLOOD in big bold, scar-tissue white letters on the arm that she was reaching down with. '_Hermione Granger._'

He was just thinking about her and her friends. And now he was looking at her. Before he knew what he was doing, Draco silently walked up to her and as she drew her hand back from replacing the quill he reached forward and took a hold of that hand.

Shocked at his own nerve, he looked down at her to see her face reflect his shock. Both stood in bewildered silence for a few moments, staring at one another, into each others' eyes, looking for something, anything.

Then, "Mal-Malfoy," she asked. "Draco Malfoy?"

All her could do at the moment was nod. He couldn't believe he was touching her. The only other time he could think of was when she punched him in third year.

Just as she opened her mouth to ask him something else, he cut her off. "Granger, uhm, this is just as odd for me as I know it is for you, but… uhm…" swallowing, "would you have tea with me and my mother? She would like that."

Hermione knew her face was an open book of complete and utter shock, with her eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

At a complete loss for words though all she did too was nod okay, not knowing another answer since saying no would be rude.

"Would tomorrow around this time be alright," he asked, surprised at what he was proposing and her consent.

Nodding again, Hermione asked, "Where?"

"How about I pick you up here?"

"Okay…"

Blinking several times, Draco nodded. "Alright. See you tomorrow then…"

She nodded and he slowly let go of her arm. Taking a step back, he continued to watch her watch him. Then he turned around and left the shop.

This was better than getting his mum a quill. Definitely better.

* * *

Alright... So I know it's been a really long time since I've written anything and that I'd said the next thing I'll write will be for the Protector of the Small but I read Harry Potter fanfiction more (mostly because it'd written better and updated more but also because I love Dramiones) and this one was bothering me all night. So I stayed up to almost 6am last night, writing this and then typing it up. It didn't come out the way it was going in my head but it this is how it started and flowing and so I went with it instead of turning it in a way it didn't seem to want to go.

Hope you enjoyed,

E. - I think that's gonna be my new signature.

P.S: **Protector of the Small fans!** So I'm super sorry this isn't a new chapter to _Fertility Offering_. Hopefully another chapter to that story will come along soon. As of right now though, I just packed those books up to bring with me to college. I'm moving in less then a month so it was time to go through my books and pack them up. So for the even longer wait.


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